Tag Archives: companion animal

New Zealand Considers Whole-Family Cemeteries

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Michael Coghlan, Rural Wonderland (detail). 2011. flickr url: http://tinyurl.com/neq2j67.

Michael Coghlan, Rural Wonderland (detail). 2011. flickr url: http://tinyurl.com/neq2j67.

New Zealand is modifying its cemetery law.
Will it honor the wishes of those wanting to bury
their animals’ remains in their family’s cemetery plot?

by Rachael Ford  1709 words

In late 2013, Rachael Ford informed the Green Pet-Burial Society about New Zealand’s process of updating its cemetery law. A registered nurse, Rachael is the founder of With Our Loved Ones (WOLO), dedicated to establishing whole-family cemeteries in NZ. We support WOLO and sent a detailed letter to the NZ government in support of conservation whole-family cemeteries. We invited Rachael to prepare a guest blog about pet burial practices in New Zealand and her founding of WOLO. Here she provides a background on NZ cemetery law, Māori tradition, and a poetic recollection of grief for her dog Beulah.


NZcoat-of-armsNew Zealand, a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, is in the process of updating its Burial and Cremation Act of 1964. The Law Commission invited submissions from citizens, stakeholders and experts on how to improve the current law (the Green Pet-Burial Society was among the respondents). So in November 2013 I formed With Our Loved Ones (WOLO), an ad hoc group of New Zealanders and supporters dedicated to the formation of whole-family cemeteries in NZ. Continue reading →

2010-11 Year in Review

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"Yellow Flowers" © Flickr.com Zest_pk

Thank You for your interest in, and support of, the Green Pet-Burial Society. What an extraordinary year! When I founded the Society in early 2010, it was important to launch our website first in order to provide grieving individuals and families with information they needed to make practical and green burial arrangements upon the passing of a beloved animal. No other service provides the type of information we do. It’s heartening to know that many found help either directly from us or from the information posted. Continue reading →

A Time for Compassion & Honoring Family

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GettyImages_90721602When a beloved companion passes, it can be wrenching. This may be especially true when others neither understand nor are sympathetic to your grief.

During such intense times we seek comfort through private rituals and the arrangements made for a loved one’s remains. When a companion animal dies, cremation is the most common practice, but a natural home burial is also commonplace – for those with yards. For those of us without land who prefer burial, the option for a natural burial in a cemetery is nearly nonexistent. Continue reading →